Deadly piranhas maul ten swimmers in Argentinean river

At least 10 people have been injured in a pirahna attack (Picture: Getty)

At least ten people have been injured in an attack by a shoal of flesh-eating piranhas.

Less than a month after a similar attack by the carnivorous fish known as palometas, the group of swimmers, including a young boy, were targeted in the Paraná River in Rosario, Argentina.

The youngest of the group was bitten on the foot in the latest mauling.

Federico Cornier, the local director of lifeguards, described the palometas as ‘a type of piranha, big, voracious and with sharp teeth that can really bite’.

Some 70 bathers were bitten by the shoal of the fish in late December as they attempted to cool off following the unusually high summer temperatures experienced in the country which reached a balmy 38C (100F).

During that attack, a seven-year-old girl lost part of a finger, while other swimmers suffered deep cuts to their ankles, fingers and hands.

Gustavo Centurion, a doctor who treated some of the stricken, described that attack as ‘very aggressive’.

He added: ‘There were some people that the fish literally had torn bits of flesh from.’

Experts say a combination of hot weather and lower numbers of species such as caiman, which prey on the fish, could be causing the attacks.